Kevin Bollaert, a 28-year-old California man who published nude or explicit pictures of women online without their consent and then charged them hundreds of dollars to remove the images, was convicted of 27 felony counts of extortion and identity theft on Monday.
The case is the first criminal prosecution of a revenge porn site operator, according to the California Department of Justice.
Bollaert ran ugotposted.com, a site where users anonymously submitted intimate pictures of their exes, often with the intention of shaming or embarrassing the women. Bollaert required users to include the subject's full name, location, age and Facebook profile link.
Between December 2012 and September 2013, Bollaert posted 10,170 private photographs “containing nude and explicit images of individuals who did not give permission for their private images to be posted online,” according to a complaint filed in San Diego Superior Court.
In October 2012, Bollaert also launched a site called changemyreputation.com and collected $30,000 from women desperate to have their photos removed from ugotposted.com.
Some of the victims wrote pleading emails to Bollaert. In July 2013, he received a letter from Jane Doe #6, who wrote that she was “…scared for my life! People are calling my work place and they obtained the information from this site! I did not give permission for anyone to put up those pictures or my personal information. I have contacted the police but these pictures need to come down! Please!”
At the trial, one woman testified that she was thrown out of her home. “It ruined my life and I’m still going through it,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “I lost my family. They think that I brought shame on them. My reputation is ruined.”
Though California passed a law in 2013 making it illegal to distribute nude or explicit images of someone without their permission, Bollaert was not prosecuted under that statute. Instead, he was charged with extortion and identity theft.
According to the AP, Bollaert’s lawyer, Emily Rose-Weber, argued that while her client exploited “human weakness,” he didn’t break the law.
“It’s gross, it’s offensive, but it’s not illegal,” she said.
In a statement issued following the verdict, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris spoke forcefully against those who post revenge porn.
“Bollaert’s actions are illegal and they will not be tolerated in California." she said. "And if you run a website like this, you’re going to go to prison. Just because you’re sitting behind a computer, committing what is essentially a cowardly and criminal act, you will not be shielded from the law or jail."
Bollaert, who has not been sentenced, faces up to 20 years in jail.